Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Enjoying Road Trips with a ONE Year Old

Olive is a great little traveler.  She's logged a handful of flights and roughly 20,000 road trip miles.  We aren't travel or parenting EXPERTS, but we've figured out how to make road trips with a toddler enjoyable for everyone involved.  

1. Bring favorite items from home - bunny, blanket & paci

 2. Pack fun toys that are new or that your child loves -
Olive's flute is very entertaining

 3. Our road trip goals are always to make the trip as fast as we reasonably can with just a few quick stops.  I always ride in the back with Olive so that I can entertain her, give her snacks and Kevin sits up front.  I'm sure she'll need less attention as she gets older (at least I hope so - haha) so I'm guessing I'll move back to my co-pilot spot in the car.  I also think when she is no longer rear facing, it'll be easier to sit up front.

 4. Make frequent stops for everyone to get out and s-t-r-e-t-c-h their legs.  Change diapers and let your toddler run to burn off some energy.  We can usually be found running laps around McDonalds.  I typically do diaper changes in the car instead of fast food restaurants.  They are usually NASTY and not very clean.  We change her diaper/outfit in the car, run around a bit and go in for quick snack.  My husband and I take turns going to the restroom so that we don't have to take Olive into the bathrooms.  I've done it before and she tries to touch EVERYTHING!  It grosses me out so I try to avoid it.

 5. Dress your child in comfy clothes and bring a few outfit changes in your diaper bag.

 6. Check out the Dollar Tree or Target Dollar Bins for some special things - beads & bracelets are always a huge hit for Olive.  She puts them on herself, on me and repeats this game forever.  She loves teethers, stickers, flash cards, straws, etc.  You don't have to spend a lot.  Just find a few new things and your kiddo will love it.

 7. Pack a bag full of toys, teethers, snacks and special things to keep near your child.  It's so nice to have all the toys and treats in one spot.  I try to pack puppets, rattles, musical toys, stuffed animals, several teethers, board books and any other small toys I can round up.

 8. Sometimes we play beauty shop - chapstick is a favorite, fake blush and combing her hair all work.  We sometimes even squeeze in a mani/pedi while she's contained in her carseat.

 9. Load your ipod with tons of silly songs or put in a silly cd.  Olive enjoys her kids music and my husband would rather hear that than her crying.

10. Try to plan your trip to happen during nap time.  We can't always do this one but it sure is nice to get a 2-3 stretch of rest in the middle of the trip.

 11. Have extra blankets to block the sun. 

12. We always pack a cooler with milk for Olive and put her teethers in it.  We've also got drinks for us and things like string cheese ready to go.  I always pack a lot of food for us so we don't have to spend much money when we stop.  We have tons of wet wipes just in case our snacking gets out of hand or something gets spilled.
Favorite toddler car snacks:
sippy cup
Cheerios, gold fish, pretzel rods, string cheese, raisins & fruit pouches

I'm thinking I'll bring along her twistables, some of her Llama Llama books and coloring books for our next road trip.  

How do you make road trips with toddlers enjoyable?!?!

Linking up for Mama Monday with Les

3 comments:

  1. You are one innovative young momma.. Love reading your posts.....Love the pictures of my little Olive Kate......Love Gram

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  2. i love this.... as moms we have to be so creative with these long road trips! And ick, those reststop bathrooms can be gruesome!

    XO sarita it's my girls' world

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  3. This is a great blog post! We are traveling for 6 hours with our 16 month old and this is exactly what I was looking for :)

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